[Cob] great article???

[ocean]

Actually, the article is pretty silly, since it misses the point of cob 
altogether!!!  Adobe brick structures are weak, because the building is 
made of individually dried bricks mortared with clay slip - lots of 
joints which shake and fall apart when the big earthquake hits.

Cob, on the other hand (which we should be experts on - "cob-listers") 
is a monolithic structure with thousands or millions of strands of 
straw running throughout in a randomized matrix, hence the lack of any 
joints which can crack under shear force...

The suggesting of adding jute, hemp or poly rope is moot.  And 
apparently the "scientists" in the article haven't heard of cob, and 
are thus drilling holes through adobe bricks trying to create a 
monolithic earthen structure!!!  Maybe someone should write to them...

Ocean
http://www.intabas.com
http://www.peacemaking.org

On Jul 14, 2005, at 8:45 PM, billc_lists at greenbuilder.com wrote:
>
>
> At 5:57 PM -0500 7/14/05, Quinn wrote:
>> Copper,
>>
>> I'd like to read that article, but I don't want to have to register 
>> for another site where I'll be getting mail from.  Any chance you 
>> could post it?
> Someone put it up at the SB-R-Us list at Yahoo in pdf form.  Let me 
> know if you can't get to it and I'll send it to you.
>
>> However, I'd use a natural material (hemp?) not polypropylene or 
>> whatever for this reason:  have you ever encountered a plastic bag 
>> stuck in dried mud?  When you pick it up the mud pretty much peels 
>> right off-- it doesn't attach to the plastic.
>>
>> Now, what about a natural material like a jute rope?  [I guess I've 
>> spent a lot of time picking up litter!  : )  ]  If you try to pull a 
>> jute rope out of mud it really sticks.  All the little fibers and 
>> 'hairs' attract the mud and adhere to it.  Much better than plastic. 
>> And, embedded, I wouldn't worry too much about decay.
>
> I like the idea myself, and can't really come up with any down side, 
> other than the fact that it's harder on the hands when you're tying it 
> off.